Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Joe Shairs drove the North Shore bus of Gregory Putnam, Todd
Callaghan, and I from Peabody to Auburn NH in just under 50 minutes. I have
never been to Auburn and frankly never heard of Lake Massabesic or Massabesic
Lake. The area was hosting the USATF New England 10 mile road race championship
– race number 4 of 7 in 2016. All I knew about the race was that it had some
hills as CMS teammates Ed Sheldon, Dave Dunham checked out the course recently.
Scott Mindel agreed after racing his 54:40 winning time there a year ago. The
10 mile race was a perimeter loop around the lake. I got my number and then
headed over to the timing van to confirm and validate some team stuff. I got
set up in the racing gear and did a warm up on the bike path which was nice to
see.

The race lined up and I started next to Joe about three rows
from the line. The sun was out and temps were in the 70’s and waiting to pop
into the 80’s. The race bolted out and I settled in behind some ladies. We got
strict instruction from race director John Mortimer to stay to the right of the
yellow lines on the street at all times. That was really restrictive in the
first few miles of the race. With a course of all right hand turns, it did not
matter after 10 minutes of racing.

Joe Shairs, Todd Callaghan, and Josh Perks were about 10 seconds
ahead after two miles. I was jealous but respected the pace and distance for
which we were up against. I did not want to risk a heavy surge to connect with
them. The mile splits were just under or just over six minutes per mile which
was in order of my abilities for 10 miles. My goal was to compete well and
finish under one hour (wanted to run 58:59). I could not help but be reminded
that the course felt like I was running around Lake Winnipesaukee as it related
to a lake and the hills.

I got tired of seeing the Aubrun hills as I got to the half
way point on the course which was reached in 30:28 (thought my watch had me around
30:19). SRR training partner Kieran Condon passed me right around then and I
gave him advice shortly after to continue to fly down any hills he saw for the
rest of the course. I am glad the course had the in and out of Hunting Way
(even the dreaded pace killer 180 around the cones) so that I could see who I
was chasing and who was chasing me. I noted Dan Verrington and Dave Dunham were
chasing me. The Perks, Callaghan, Shairs trio was broken up a bit with
competitors in between about 20 seconds ahead. Strangely, I did not see any
other master runners among them so with me as the 5th scoring runner
for the team at the moment, it looked pretty good for CMS.

I was feeling listless into mile 6 but the down hills were
helping me. I put a good effort on all that rolled down using it to my benefit
and gave me some back and forth with the guys around me like Kieran. I caught
up to Joe after 7 miles along Rt. 28. It was nice to finally run with a
teammate. A few minutes later, we came upon a hill that looked to be the
longest of the course. Joe mumbled a few f-bombs and admitted to be backing
off. Dan Verrington flew by on the hill looking very good. He would soon finish
as the top Senior (50+) runner of the day. He put a few seconds on me to the
top as we reached mile 9. The course would drop right down to set us both up for
a few right hand turns into the finish where I scooted ahead of Dan to the finish.

My time was 1:00:53 (gun time) or 1:00:49.4 chip time, placed
me 68th overall. The 5 mile splits were: 30:28 and 30:22 – a negative
split. Dan was 4 seconds back and Joe was 27 seconds back. Josh and Todd
crossed the line in 1:00:11 & 1:00:18. Gregory Putnam ran 56:59 to score as
our top master for the team and top master of the race. The masters team picked
up the win while the Seniors team placed 2nd and open team 3rd.

The team headed out for an easy cool down on the trails
nearby along the lake about 15 minutes later. My right calf cramped on two occasions.
The post race venue under the pines trees was cool. I had ice cream and muscle
milk which the team appreciated. Looking back on the race, I am glad the race
had more shade than I expected. The next USATF races next month for the team
and I are the Seasons 20K in Acton and the Lone Gull 10K in Gloucester.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

The Lynn Woods relay has been a summer tradition. Four
runners each take a run at 2.5 miles of up and down hills in Lynn Woods. As of 3pm yesterday, I was homeless, letting
my CMS mates who have frequented the Lynn Woods races all summer recruit
another to fill out a team. My attempt to get a CMS masters team fell through too. So it did not look good so I planned on just running over to to watch the race. But, a tip from Brett Rickenbach advised Junyong
Pak was seeking to fill out his team. Boom, I was in as of hours before the race. Junyong and I were on a
previous Lynn Woods relay team moons ago. I sprinted home and met up with Brett
and we ran over to the race. I found Junyong to get my number and then with
Manuel Rednon and Kyle Hewson who made up our team.

Pak led off with a 14:10 (7th fastest split of the day) and handed off to Manuel (owner of
Los Chamos - a Venezuelan Restaurant on
Union Street) who turned an ankle out on the goat path but toughed it out on
his first run (18:26) in Lynn Woods. He handed off to Kyle, a sophomore at
Beverly High School aiming to crack the top 5 in cross country next month. He
got through in 17:38. I was the anchor and took off out onto the course. I
cheered on every person and club runner in sight. There was no pressure but wanted to run the 15 minutes that I said I would do. I felt pretty good but all climbing
was taxing. I saw Oti Pizarro at the turn-around and thought I might have a
chance to catch him on the way back to the finish. I pressed on and made
up the gap only at the top of the last hill (400m before the finish). I passed
him on the way down and brought it home with a split of 15:08 – good for 2nd
fastest master time behind David Long. The team finished 9th
overall. Not too bad. Team Results

I capped off the night with Krissy and the Wicked Running Club at Polcaris on Rt. 1 for Pizza. It gave me some time to catch up with friends.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Gregory
Putman drove Joe Shairs and I to Narragansett, RI for the USATF New England 5
mile road race Championships. The 9th Annual Bobby Doyle race was
race number three for the 2016 road race Grand Prix Series. The series has
waited since the New Bedford Half Marathon in March. I picked up my new team
jacket from Steve and went out for a warm up which was not really needed with the
temps and humidity rising. I got in about 10 minutes before lining up at the
start, five rows back next to Joe. The race bolted out of the school driveway
and took a right down a slight hill before climbing up a bit. I settled in with
a 5:29 1st mile. I got behind Joe after 2 miles which my pace slowed
down to a 5:43 mile (pretty normal for me). The 3rd mile out on the water pinged a 5:41
mile (hey not too bad) and I got a step in front of Joe. The 5K split was 18 minutes. My personal
temperature gauge was maxing out. I wilted shortly thereafter and it got ugly
with the next mile coming in a 6:12. There was a hill in there that I would not typically call a hill with the mountain races that I witness. But this hill felt like a mountain and it was not too bad. Runners past by and I all I could do was keep my head down and just shuffle along. The last mile was no faster
as I saw some carnage with a few folks stopping or dropping out. I managed to
find some energy to get close to Dan Verrington at the very end to score as our
5th master runner of the day. The 29:47 chip time is a good minute
plus slower than my time last year. It is what it is. On the good news front,
the open team placed 2nd while the Masters and Senior teams took
first place. A flurry of Grand Prix races are coming up: 10 mile, 20K, 10K.